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Collared Conger Eels

A preserved conger eel pickled, smoked, and coated with gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and laurel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 627 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Collared Conger Eels

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the head, tail, and fins from the fish.

  2. Take off the skin and reserve it.

  3. Open the fish along the back.

  4. Remove the large bone.

Salt and press

  1. Sprinkle coarse sea salt inside the fish.

  2. Sprinkle fine sugar inside the fish.

  3. Place boards on both sides of the fish to weigh it down.

  4. Leave the fish overnight.

  5. Remove the boards.

  6. Renew the salt and sugar.

  7. Dust ground white pepper over the fish.

  8. Leave the fish pressed down for another day.

Spice and dry

  1. Add allspice, juniper berries, bay leaves, and laurel leaves to the pickle.

  2. Rub the fish inside and out with the mixture.

  3. Wipe the fish clean with cloths.

  4. Roll each piece into a collar.

  5. Dry the fish gradually.

  6. Smoke the fish as desired.

Coat and bury

  1. Coat the fish with gelatin.

  2. Wrap the fish in paper and bury it in malt crumbs.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Allspice + laureltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together627 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. White pepper + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. White pepper + laureltop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together270 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Sugar + allspicetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,938 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the flesh during the cure.
Fine sugar
Balances the salt and adds sweetness while helping the cure develop flavor.
Gelatin
Forms a coating that helps protect the surface of the fish.

The step that matters

Pressing the fish after salting. Boards must weigh the fish down evenly so salt and sugar penetrate uniformly and excess moisture drains. Uneven pressure can leave some areas under-cured and others too wet.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, sugar, allspice, laurel, gelatin):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, sugar, allspice, laurel, gelatin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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